The Golden Globes averaged 9.4 million viewers on Sunday night, according to Nielsen, an increase over the 2023 ceremony ratings but still significantly lower than the audience totals of just a few years ago.
Until 2020, the Globes regularly drew 17 million to 20 million viewers. In 2019, the Globes was narrowing the viewership gap with the Oscars so significantly that it appeared the telecast could become the most-watched awards show.
And then disaster struck.
First came the pandemic, which deprived the 2021 Globes of its usual booze-soaked freewheeling ceremony, sending the ratings tumbling. Then came a scandal for the organization that administers the Globes, which led NBC to refuse to broadcast the 2022 ceremony. Last year, NBC gave the Globes a one-year chance, and the audience figures were still low: just over six million people watched.
For months, there was speculation that a streaming service like Netflix or Amazon could pick up the rights to the Globes. That did not happen. In November, CBS picked up the rights for another one-year arrangement. (In a statement announcing the deal, George Cheeks, the CBS president, said that the Globes could help promote scripted programming that had been delayed by last year’s strikes in Hollywood. Those shows premiere next month.)
CBS announced a host — a relatively unknown Jo Koy — only a few days before Christmas.
Reviews for Mr. Koy were harsh, with critics taking particular issue with the comedian’s bizarre mid-monologue pivot, in which he blamed other writers for some of his dull jokes. “Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago, you want a perfect monologue?” he said. “Yo, shut up. You’re kidding me, right? Slow down. I wrote some of these — and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
Critics were not kind to the telecast, either. Vanity Fair called it a “near-total disaster” and a critic at The Hollywood Reporter said it was “the dullest awards show” he had ever seen. The Ankler likened it to the “RC Cola of award shows.”